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So I harvested my first batch of chives yesterday. I had two BIG bunches. I love fresh herbs and I love growing them. I was a little late with this first batch of chives and they had already flowered. I hate wasting anything so I pulled out all the flowers and buds and filled two vases. My daughter told me I couldn’t keep them in the house because it would smell like onions and that wouldn’t be good. Psssh, what does she know. At any rate, the vases are outside on my deck and they look great! The picture in the middle doesn’t begin to show how much is actually there. That bucket is a good 10” deep and 14” across. That’s a lot of chives!

I also planted some of the herbs that I started from seed. Mostly tarragon and Greek oregano now with some sage and rosemary.

More little plants are waiting to be planted as soon as I have time. I have also been planting some flowers around, as well as giving some away. More to come on that in another post.

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Weather – sunny and warm (I’m writing this 2 days late with a headache so I’m not as precise as normal)

I finally got to work in the yard! I got most of my garden planted, just a little left to go. My master plan isn’t working out like I thought so I’ve had to do a lot of tweaking as I go. Will learn for next year though. Mostly, I just tried to fit too many big plants into too small of a space. I want to grow pumpkins, but don’t know if I’ll have enough room. I’ve planted a couple of seeds, plus squash and zucchini. We’ll see.

rosemary purchased in garden and on deck in planters, (1 seed growing)

tarragon can’t find anywhere!

dill strays from last year growing in deck planter, purchased in garden (my own didn’t grow)

coriander 1 stray from last year by roses, purchased in garden (my own didn’t grow)

lemon balm (Sweet Melissa) purchased in planter on deck

It was a satisfying day digging in the dirt. We went when I was about halfway through to buy some herbs, but I can’t find tarragon anywhere. I have one more place to look, but it’s a little drive. We’ve had some good rain and some sun so everything is doing very well that was already planted. I’m almost done. I have 2/3 of two beds left to plant. I’m a little disappointed that I only have 2 roma tomatoes, but I’ll have more next year now that my greenhouse is full functional.

My Stevia (sweet leaf) plant is all brown and looks very dead. I don’t have the heart to dump it yet. I’ve been surprised in the past at what can survive after certain death so I’m leaving it potted and watering it still…..just in case.

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Oops, guess I missed Friday, but since I didn’t do anything outside, I didn’t really miss anything. I found it when I went to publish this one so my days are just a little mixed up instead of missing.

Today’s weather is starting out sunny. Temp at 6:30 was 44o

I think I’ll plant some of my vegetables today, hopefully get my beds filled. I hope they do ok with they chilly nights.

I was thinking about my herbs and some of my other plants that I started from seed that didn’t make it. I think I discovered the reason why, but it’s a theory that will have to be tested. After I got the big greenhouse, I stopped using the mini greenhouses. That was a mistake because they kept the moisture in the soil for the little seeds and seedlings. The heat from the big greenhouse was too much for them and they burned up without the added protection. I’ll find out if this is true when I reseed. This time, the lids go on and stay on until they are a good size.

Unfortunately, however, I will have to purchase most of my herbs again this year if I want to have any sort of a harvest. This is how I learn though, so it is a lesson learned for me. I can say that I learned something new today and it’s not even 8:00 in the morning yet.

So much for my big plans. By the time I got back from the church the hubby wanted to go for lunch and to Bass Pro Shop. It’s almost an hour from our house plus eating time and a few more stops and it was dinner time by the time we got home. No gardening for me today.

This morning we had some shopping to do and I bought 3 herbs that I don’t have, hot and spicy oregano, lemonthyme (yumm!), and orange mint. I love trying different spices. I wanted lemon thyme because I had it last year and loved it. I had never heard of hot and spicy oregano, but the tag said it was good in Mexican dishes which I love! Our area is known for growing mint. As a matter of fact, on Father’s Day weekend there is a Mint Festival is a nearby town. I like trying all the different kinds of mint. In my other blog, Crazywonderfullife, I mentioned last summer that I found spearmint growing wild in my yard. That was really exciting. I also have a ton of catmint. I had to try the orange mint. I also saw several other kinds that I had never heard of including sweet mint and grapefruit mint. I may have to go back and get those.

When we came home I watered the plants in the greenhouse, planted the orange mint in a hanging basket and hung it up, and filled another 4×4 raised bed with dirt and planted the oregano and lemon thyme in it. I also planted some peas in the garden and transplanted the goji and stevia into large planters for now because I can’t decide where to put them in the yard. I planted the lemon grass out front at the end of a split rail fence that marks our property line. I did decide on a place for the elderberry bushes though. I’ll plant them tomorrow.

I have four things that haven’t sprouted yet in the greenhouse, coriander, rosemary, delphinium and tritoma. I’m a little disappointed, but maybe they’re just slow growers. I have more seeds for each of them so I can start over if I have to.

I bought a new shelf for the greenhouse and put it together. I combined it with the other shelf I had so that I now have 3 shelves, 2 of them have 3 shelves and 1 has 4 shelves.

I planted oregano, sage, and dill seeds and watered everything.

The herbs I planted on the 27th are coming up and the Rutgers tomatoes I planted on the 18th are coming up. The other two types, Brandywine pink and ?, aren’t sprouting yet.

Everything I planted in the egg trays with regular potting mix is dead and I need to replace them.

Everything else is doing well. They actually look like plants now instead of little seedlings.

I fed the birds and scoped out places for the bushes I’m getting; Goji Berry, Sweet Leaf Plant, Lemon Grass, and 2 Elderberry bushes. I’m still not sure where they’re going to go. Will do some more searching and planning with Hubby tomorrow.

It was a pretty good day because I got to play in the dirt and my back behaved. Of course, I did take it easy.

My lilacs are blooming! Yay! There is nothing better than having my front door open and smelling the lilacs coming in on the breeze. That is my bliss.

I planted seeds for broccoli, cauliflower, thyme, basil, rosemary, and coriander. I also planted flower seeds for delphinium, coreopsis, and something else that I can’t remember the name of, but I’m too lazy to go back out to the greenhouse and look. I’ll note it down tomorrow. I also watered my Goji berry bush which I need to plant and I potted some lemon grass. When I saw how big it will get I realized that it will have to planted in the yard also, but it’s happy for now.